OKC Thunder's West Coast Road Trip Critical for Playoff Chances
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After a battle-tested February and multiple wins against the Eastern conference’s giants, the Thunder aren’t sneaking up on anyone anymore. This is a talented young core that seems to be getting better as the season goes on.
Oklahoma City’s success has been a surprising storyline in the NBA season to this point, as the team passed its projected win total before the All-Star break. In fact, with the Thunder’s win over Houston on Saturday night, Oklahoma City officially has more wins through 52 games this season than all of last season combined. After a two-year absence from the postseason, Oklahoma City is in a unique spot to make a post-All Star break run providing the team stays together and stays healthy.
Currently, OKC is 25-27, good for the No. 12 seed in the Western conference. To put the conference’s playoff race into perspective, though, the fourth-seeded Clippers are just a game ahead of the Thunder in the loss column. The thirteenth seeded Lakers are four games back of home court advantage in the playoffs.
Outside of Denver and Memphis at the top, there’s plenty of fluctuation going around in the standings before the trade deadline.
Because the conference is a jumbled mess, every game is incredible important. But a three-game Western conference road trip against three teams all within a game-and-a-half in the standings? That’s about as important as it gets.
Heading into Monday night’s matchup at Golden State, Oklahoma City is 1.5 games behind the Warriors, 0.5 games behind the Trail Blazers and a half game up on the Lakers. This is essentially a play-in preview round robin for Oklahoma City, as all three squads will likely be fighting for limited spots.
Lu Dort remains out for Monday night's game, but seems to be inching towards a much-needed return to the lineup. Forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl debuted for the OKC Blue this week after missing significant time this season with an injury, and should be back on his way to the Thunder's lineup any time now. It's a serious chance to gain momentum for this young squad.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company will be tested once again this week, playing the Warriors and Lakers on back-to-back late night games and an extended stay from home. If the team strings together a few wins, though, it will be well worth their while.
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